


Swimming Lessons

by thatgaypoetickid



Series: Jazzalil Oneshots [1]
Category: Firebringer - Team StarKid
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatgaypoetickid/pseuds/thatgaypoetickid
Summary: Jemilla ends up teaching Zazzalil how to swim at their local lake, some realisations happen.
Relationships: Emberly/Grunt (Firebringer), Jemilla/Zazzalil (Firebringer)
Series: Jazzalil Oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986871
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	Swimming Lessons

“Zazz, you’re telling me you can’t swim?” Jemilla asked as the two walked side by side down the street.

“It’s not that weird, I just never learnt I guess.” Zazzalil shrugged, kicking a stone with her foot.

“But swimming is such an essential skill to learn!”

“How? In what situation will I ever need to swim?” Zazzalil asked with a laugh, not understanding why Jemilla was so appalled because she couldn’t swim.

“What if you were near a lake?”

“I wouldn’t go in the lake.”

“What about a boat?”

“Jemilla, when the _ fuck  _ would I get on a boat? Especially seeing as I can’t swim.”

“Okay, okay, what if there was a flood? Then you’d need to know how to swim.” Jemilla argued, Zazzalil sighed and shook her head.

“You’re being ridiculous, we never even get floods in Clivesdale Jemilla.” 

“I’m just worried okay, I don’t want you to die because you never learned how to swim,” Jemilla said, and whilst it was nice to know Jemilla cared, Zazzalil still thought she was being ridiculous. “You never know what could happen Zazz, and I don’t want the guilt of you drowning when I knew you couldn’t swim and-”

“Jemilla,” Zazzalil stopped and spun around to face Jemilla. Without a warning, Jemilla almost walked right into her. “If it worries you that much, why don’t you teach me?”

“What?”

“Yeah! Seeing as you’re lecturing me about not knowing how to swim, why don’t you do it? I mean you know how to swim right?”

“Of course I do, but I’ve never taught anyone how,” Jemilla said.

“Well, then I can be the first. We can do it down at the lake this Friday, everyone else can come too, so it’s not just us.” 

“Zazz, I’m not sure that’d be a good idea-” Jemilla began.

“Why not? You don’t want me to drown, do you? I swear you just said you couldn’t have that on your conscience.”

“I know but I'm not a swimming teacher and it could be dangerous. Then I’d feel even more guilty.” Jemilla said, and Zazzalil placed her hands on Jemilla’s shoulders to grab her attention.

“Jemilla, you will not drown me. Now are you teaching me to swim or not?” Zazzalil asked and Jemilla stayed silent, debating her answer in her head. 

“Okay, fine, I’ll teach you. But you have to be serious about this Zazz.”

“I will be! Now that it’s settled I’ll see you on Friday,” Zazzalil grabbed Jemilla’s arm to look at her watch. “We better get going or Emberly will be mad we’re late to her party again.”

* * *

Jemilla paced around her dorm room, skin buzzing as she thought about teaching Zazzalil to swim today. She didn’t even know why she had agreed to this, Jemilla was not qualified to teach swimming and even if she was a lake with a ton of their friends was not the best way to do it.

A glance at the clock showed it was 4 pm, Zazzalil would be here any minute, and they’d be on their way to the lake. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad? Jemilla had done tutoring in the past and that’s kind of like teaching, plus how hard could it be to teach swimming?

There was a knock at the door, there was no turning back now. 

Jemilla grabbed her bag and walked to the door. On the other side were Zazzalil and Ducker.

“Hey Jemilla, you ready to go?” Zazzalil asked.

“Yeah, but I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Jemilla said as she walked out the door and closed it behind her, following Ducker and Zazzalil down the hall.

“It’s a great idea! Right, Ducker?” Zazzalil nudged Ducker, who had zoned out.

“Huh? Yeah, great idea! Amazing, in fact!”

“See J-mills, even the wise Ducker agrees,” Zazzalil said as a grin as they walked down the stairwell, Jemilla scoffed.

“Who’s driving?” 

“Emberly is driving Grunt, Tiblyn, Chorn and Keeri. Schwoopsie is driving me, you, SB and Ducker.” Zazzalil explained. They left the dorm building and headed to the parking lot where the rest of the group was waiting.

They split into the two groups Zazzalil had explained and got into their respective cars, Jemilla was thankful it was warm today. Swimming in the cold wasn’t fun, especially when you had to teach someone like Zazzalil.

“Why are we going to the lake, anyway?” Schwoopsie asked from the driver’s seat.

“Jemilla is gonna teach me how to swim.”

“You are?” Schwoopsie turned to her head to look back at Jemilla.

“Yes I am, keep your eyes on the road.”

“How did Zazz get you to agree to that?”

“I have no idea,” Jemilla muttered as she looked out the window, the dread and nervousness she felt earlier settling in her gut. 

By the time they reached the lake, Ducker had already fallen asleep, even though it was a measly twenty-minute drive.

Everyone got out the cars, grabbing their bags and the random assortment of objects they’d brought with them. Jemilla stayed sitting in the car as long as she could before Zazzalil would begin pestering her.

Despite it being fall, the afternoon was relatively warm, not hot, but it was good enough. The smell of grass and fire smoke filled Jemilla’s nose and reminded her of when she used to come down to the lake with Molag when she was younger, Molag would fish whilst Jemilla sat on the grass and made flower crowns out of the daisies.

SB and Ducker were already up to their nonsense, betting on who could climb higher in the tree and SB insisting it was him.

Grunt was helping Emberly unpack the food she’d brought and probably made for the group. Keeri stood next to them, chatting away about something.

Tiblyn and Schwoopsie were sitting on a log looking over at the lake, Chorn standing next to them admiring the sky.

And Zazzalil was walking right over to Jemilla. Fuck.

“So J-mills, you ready to teach me how to swim?”

Jemilla looked over at the lake, then back at Zazzalil. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as she was expecting.   
“Yep, but like I said-”

“I have to take this seriously, I know Jemilla. I will. Now come on!” Zazzalil grabbed her arm, something she did frequently to check the time because Zazzalil never wore the watch her dad bought her, and dragged Jemilla over to the lake.

They both took off their shoes and Jemilla placed her bag by the large tree before they walked into the shallow water of the lake, Jemilla stopped them just before it got deeper.

“Okay, give me your arms,” Jemilla said, and Zazzalil was surprisingly compliant, Jemilla grabbed her arms and made her hold on to Jemilla’s shoulders. Jemilla held onto Zazzalil’s elbows and pulled them both further into the lake. “Keep hold of me until you’re ready to let go, okay?”

“Okay,” Zazzalil said with a nod, Jemilla continued to swim backwards when she felt Zazzalil grip her shoulders tightly.

Jemilla looked into her eyes and saw something she didn’t see often, fear. Zazzalil was scared. 

“Hey Zazz,” Jemilla said as she came to a stop. “You’re gonna be okay, I’ve got you and I won’t let anything happen.”

Zazzalil stared at her and took in a deep breath. She nodded and relaxed her grip on Jemilla a little. Jemilla continued to move back until neither of them could touch their feet to the ground.

“I’m gonna let go of your elbows now, just make sure you hold on to me,” Jemilla looked over at Zazzalil again and waited for agreement. Zazzalil nodded.

Jemilla slowly let go of Zazzalil’s elbows and moved her hands to Zazzalil’s waist. The action seemed to shock Zazzalil because she jumped.

“Sorry, I should have warned you.”

“No, it’s okay,” Zazzalil said with another deep breath. “What next?”

“Okay, so I’m going to hold on to you, and when you’re ready, you can try to do the doggy paddle. You know what that is, right?”

“Kinda?” Zazzalil said, and Jemilla laughed.

“It’s the most simple way to swim, so it’ll be easy. Basically, you just have to imitate how a dog would swim.”

“Okay, the doggy paddle,” Zazzalil thought it over for a moment. “Got it.”

“When you’re ready, let go.”

Jemilla watched Zazzalil as she hesitantly lifted her arms, Jemilla held her up in the water and helped her turn. 

“I can do this,” Zazzalil whispered, Jemilla just waited. “You can do this Zazz, easy.”

Then Zazzalil lifted her arms and did what you could probably call a doggy paddle. It wasn’t great, but it was a start.

“You’re doing good, Zazz, keep going.”

Zazzalil didn’t reply. Perhaps she was too deep in concentration. Jemilla then removed her hands from Zazzalil’s waist and she kept going, definitely not realising that Jemilla had let go.

She stayed close to Zazzalil when suddenly Zazzalil stopped and turned to Jemilla.

“You let go!” Zazzalil yelled as she grabbed Jemilla again.

“Because I knew you could do it Zazz, you swam on your own!”

“I did?” Zazzalil asked, looking around, her eyes widening when she realised. “I swam on my own!”

“Good job, Zazz, I knew you could do it.”

“Yeah right, you were all huffy and puffy saying  _ ‘Why did I agree to this?’ _ before.”

“Well, I changed my mind, I’m sure if you practice you’ll be a superb swimmer someday,” Jemilla said, making Zazzalil laugh, and at that moment Jemilla realised how close they were. Her ears heated up and her stomach did a flip, all words trapped in her throat.

Zazzalil stayed silent too, both of them just staring at each other.

“Hey, guys!” The sudden yell snapped them both awake, and they turned back to the noise. It was SB who was at the top of the tree he and Ducker had been attempting to climb earlier. “You might wanna get outta the water cause I’m gonna cannonball!”

Jemilla and Zazzalil looked at each other and wordlessly agreed to get out of the lake as fast as they could, and once they reached land again and SB plummeted into the water.

“I think that’s enough swimming for today,” Jemilla said as she picked up her shoes, Zazzalil nodded.

“Definitely, but you should teach me again sometime. Maybe I’ll become an Olympian someday.”

“I can only dream my student will be that good,” Jemilla said with a laugh, Zazzalil joined in before walking over to Keeri and Emberly. Jemilla grabbed her bag in search of her towel.

As she tried off, there was one thought in her mind. 

She liked Zazzalil.

This was going to be a problem.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first one-shot, and I do have more planned because writing this was super fun. I hope you enjoyed reading it! Feel free to comment and let me know what you think! :D


End file.
